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(CNN) — Eighteen-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt, charged with a crime for having sex with a 14-year-old girl, rejected a deal Friday that would have required her to plead guilty to child abuse, according to Hunt’s attorney.

Hunt was charged with two felony counts of lewd and lascivious battery after the parents of the 14-year-old went to authorities. Hunt’s family says their relationship was consensual, but in Florida a person under the age of 16 is not legally able to give consent to sex.

If Hunt is convicted, she could go to prison for 15 years — a reality that touched off a maelstrom of controversy across the country this past week. The case became widely known when Hunt’s family began an online campaign in defense of their daughter.

The plea deal from the Indian River County prosecutor’s office would have required Hunt to plead no contest to child abuse, spend two years “on community control,” which usually involves strict supervision, followed by one year of probation.

According to the plea deal document, during her probation, Hunt would have had to agree to stay away from the 14-year-old, and to provide her probation officer with immediate access to her Internet and telephone communication.

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In a statement saying that Hunt was rejecting the plea deal, her attorney, Julia Graves, wrote:

“This is a situation of two teenagers who happen to be of the same sex involved in a relationship. If this case involved a boy and girl, there would be no media attention to this case.

“Our client is a model citizen. She has been placed in an environment of school with her classmates where they go to school together, have lunch together, and play on the same team and are allowed to have communication and contact without barriers. Then when something develops between the two as a result of this environment created by the state, it leads to criminal prosecution.”

“If this incident occurred 108 days earlier when she was 17, we wouldn’t even be here,” the attorney wrote.

The parents of the young girl Friday evening said they are prepared to go forward with the case.

His daughter’s innocence was taken away, Jim Smith told CNN affiliate WPEC. “There deserves some type of punishment for that.”

The office of State Attorney Bruce Colton said it tendered an “extremely lenient plea offer in this case which would have ensured that the defendant avoided any term of incarceration and the stigma of being labeled a sex offender.

“In fact, in all probability the defendant would have avoided being a convicted felon,” the statement continued. Colton will prepare for a mid-July trial.

Earlier this week, Hunt cried in front of news crews.

“I’m scared of losing my life, the rest of my life,” she said, “not being able to go to college or be around kids, be around my sisters and my family.”

In response, Charles Sullivan Jr., the attorney for the 14-year-old girl’s family, said they had been hoping the case would be resolved by now.

Now the 14-year-old girl may have to take the witness stand if the case goes to court, Sullivan said.

“No parent wants their child to have to testify in court, but unfortunately the reality of our system is we have a system where a defendant has the right to have all the witnesses present. It’s just the aspect of our law,” Sullivan said. “It’s a difficult process but it’s a necessary process in our system of justice.”

A case catches fire on Facebook

The case has been a lightning rod for controversy after Hunt’s family went public on Facebook, describing their daughter’s case and essentially accusing the victim’s family of going after their daughter because she is gay.

The victim’s family said that isn’t true; they are only trying to protect their 14-year-old.

The American Civil Liberties Union has spoken out in defense of Hunt and an online petition by Change.org had attracted some 279,000 signatures by Friday evening. They say the punishment does not equal the crime.

Despite the online furor, a case like this isn’t all that unusual, said David LaBahn, president of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, a national professional group.

“Prosecutors get these kinds of cases all the time, and it’s almost always parents who come to them saying that something like this has happened,” said LaBahn, who worked as a trial attorney in California for 10 years and focused on prosecuting sex crimes for four years.

The amount of difference between the alleged perpetrator’s age and the victim’s age weighs heavily in whether a prosecutor moves forward on a case, he said.

“If you had an 18- and 17-year-old, there may be some investigation,” he said.

“If the 17-year-old says it was consensual, that would probably be the end of it and you wouldn’t have charges.”

But in this case, 18 and 14 is a wide gap, he said. “According to law in Florida, this is a crime.”

It doesn’t matter — and shouldn’t matter — what people in an online community who don’t have the investigative details of a case believe, he said.

He drew a comparison to the Jodi Arias case currently under way in Arizona. Many people — even those on the jury — said they couldn’t conceive how a petite woman who claimed she’d been the victim of domestic violence could repeatedly stab her boyfriend, as she admits doing.

“As a prosecutor you cannot be influenced by anything other than the facts,” he said.

While some have suggested this case is being handled differently because it involves two females, Indian River County Sheriff Deryl Loar said that has nothing to do with it.

“If this was an 18-year-old male and that was a 14-year-old girl, it would have been prosecuted the same way,” he said.

Parents of girl, 14, say they are protecting her

At trial, the prosecutor is likely to try to put on witnesses who can show that the 14-year-old was damaged psychologically by engaging in sex at such a young age, and that she wouldn’t have normally done such a thing.

In an earlier interview with CNN affiliate WPEC, Jim and Laurie Smith insisted that the girls’ gender has nothing to do with the case. They are concerned about ages.

“Our daughter was 14, and this girl was 18,” said Jim Smith.

According to the Smiths, they twice warned Hunt to stop.

“I had another adult, who is a mother, she came to me and said, ‘Ms. Smith, you need to know this.’ She said, ‘We told Ms. Hunt to leave your daughter alone but they are in a relationship. And, she’s 18.’”

Laurie Smith said she was shocked. Her daughter was just too young, she thought.

The 14-year-old began to act out, the Smiths told WPEC.

Then one weekend morning the Smiths went to their daughter’s bedroom and discovered she was missing.

They panicked, thinking someone took their daughter or that she was hurt. “Her running away was the furthest thing from our mind,” said Jim Smith. “We thought … you hear about kids getting abducted from their homes.”

But they later learned that Hunt had picked their daughter up, they told WPEC.

“We had no other alternative but to turn to the law, use it basically as a last resort,” Jim Smith said.

Bloggers have called Laurie Smith a gay basher and accused her of being abusive to her daughter. Numerous news reports have asked whether the Smiths went after the teen because of her sexual orientation.

But Smith says her goal is to protect her 14-year-old, and she will not relent.

“I will be an advocate of what she needs,” the mother told WPEC. “The stories that people are saying … I love my daughter. … I’m willing to do whatever to protect her.”

“This whole story about you blaming Kate for making your daughter gay … where did that come from?” a reporter asked the parents.

“I don’t know. It didn’t come from us. That’s not how we feel,” Jim Smith answered.

Still, Hunt’s supporters say she is being prosecuted because she was in a sexual relationship with someone of the same sex. A Facebook support page the Hunt family set up called “Free Kate” has gathered more than 47,000 names.

Not everyone who is posting online might have the facts of the case. A glance at postings on Facebook and Twitter show that some people are getting the ages of the girls wrong. Others have posted erroneously that Hunt is being prosecuted for numerous other charges.

Regardless, everyone seems upset about the effect a felony child abuse conviction would have on Hunt, if she agreed to the plea deal.

LaBahn told CNN that a felony child abuse conviction would mean that Hunt would have to disclose her felony conviction on employment applications and she could never serve on a jury. She would be prohibited from voting for a period of time, though each state has different time frames for that rule, the attorney said. She may not be able to secure student loans either, he said, and she might not be allowed to adopt or obtain a childcare license.

Graves, Hunt’s attorney, had earlier asked that the charges be reduced to a misdemeanor.

“This is a life sentence for behavior that is all too common, whether male, female, gay, straight,” Graves said at a Wednesday news conference.

“High school relationships may be fleeting,” she said, “but felony convictions are forever.”

CNN’s Sara Ganim and Kim Segal contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/24/justice/florida-teen-sex-case/index.html?eref=edition

(CNN) — In the battle against cancer, one video game is taking the deadly disease head-on. And some young patients are the winners.

“Re-Mission 2″ is a collection of online minigames designed to get teen and young-adult cancer patients involved in understanding more about their conditions and how the body benefits from sometimes unpleasant treatments.

Researchers at HopeLab, a nonprofit organization searching for products that positively impact health behavior, were emboldened by the success of their original 2006 title, “Re-Mission,” and were looking for a better way to help patients.

“Research on the original ‘Re-Mission’ showed that it impacted biology and behavior, primarily by energizing positive motivation circuits in the human brain and giving players a sense of power and control over cancer,” said Dr. Steve Cole, a vice president at HopeLab and professor of medicine at UCLA. “That gave us a whole new recipe for engineering the games in ‘Re-Mission 2′ by harnessing the power of positive motivation circuits in the human brain.”

The Flash-based games in “Re-Mission 2″ mimic what the patients are going through in their therapy, but in a way that gamifies the treatment and involves the patient in “destroying” their cancer.

Weapons in the game include chemotherapy, cancer drugs and cells in the body’s own immune system.

A 2008 study into the effectiveness of the “ReMission” idea found that, for patients from 13 to 29, sticking to a treatment regimen when managing chronic illness was a significant problem. Playing the game greatly improved treatment adherence and understanding of that treatment in that age group, according to the study.

“(Cancer) can be incredibly disruptive and rips you away from your identity of being a normal kid,” said HopeLab spokesman Richard Tate. “The games give them the experience of what it means to be inside the body fighting cancer, using these prescriptions as weapons in their arsenal and the fight to regain a sense of control with your life.”

Many game developers lent their talents to the project. But developers also got some inside help.

Former cancer patients worked with the design teams to help create the right mood, challenges and visual design for “ReMission’s” five games.

Brooke Jaffe, a 21-year-old English major at Barnard College in New York, and Justin Lambert, a 20-year-old nursing major at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon, are two cancer patients in remission who helped with the project.

Both worked on concept art, images and play testing. But both said that the most important aspect of the game, to them, was how it would make a patient undergoing cancer treatment feel.

“Other than feeling like crap all the time, you don’t see the results,” said Lambert, who was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia at 2. “You don’t see the impact that’s brought to the body fighting the cancer. (The game) puts it into perspective — something they can visualize and definitely get hope from that.”

Jaffe was diagnosed with papillary carcinoma in 2011 and said the cancer experience can make young people feel powerless — like their recovery is based on passively allowing doctors and others to do their work.

“You actually don’t feel like you’re doing that much because it’s all these outside forces acting upon you,” she said. “I think what’s really beneficial about a game like ‘Re-Mission 2′ is the whole concept of using games to help people get a sense of activity in a situation that can rob you of that activity.

“I think that’s a very powerful thing even on a psychological level.”

Dr. Brandon Hayes-Lattin, a cancer and blood disorders specialist at the Oregon Health Science University, has been involved in a field of cancer care called adolescent and young adult oncology. He and his colleagues have been working on understanding why patients in that age group don’t show improvement in cancer-care rates on par with young kids or older adult patients.

“Across the board, no matter what the age, it is difficult to adhere to a common cancer schedule,” he said. “The number of medications, the tracking of medications can be difficult.

“You can really engage young adults through a video game as long as the video game is cool. There is also this underlying theme of empowering patients to understand what they are going through and what their own role is in their cancer care.”

With “Re-Mission 2,” he said, the mobile aspect of the minigames allow patients to be involved even while they are waiting for, or receiving, treatment.

The free minigames are available for the iPad or online. Tate said teams are working to expand the number of platforms to get the game into as many hands as possible.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/24/tech/gaming-gadgets/cancer-video-game/index.html?eref=edition

(CNN) — It’s another day — to mourn, to recover, to remember.

On Saturday, high school seniors in Moore, Oklahoma, will have time to celebrate their graduation. But they and others from the Oklahoma City suburb spent Friday reflecting on the mammoth tornado that ripped through their town days earlier.

One of those people at the center of the heartbreak is Amy Simpson, the principal at Moore’s Plaza Towers Elementary School. In an emotional press conference, she spelled out what happened Monday in vivid detail — from upbeat award ceremonies in the morning to sheer terror in the afternoon, when the twister leveled her school and left seven dead.

“What started out as a normal day at Plaza Towers turned into a horrible, horrible thing for seven families,”she said.

Her students were among the 24 people killed by the twister — an EF5, the strongest category of tornado.

All of the Plaza Towers students who died were second- and third-graders. One Plaza Towers student was buried Thursday, then two more on Friday. There will be two more funerals Saturday, then one each on Monday and Friday of next week.

Second-grader Kyle Davis was one of those remembered in a packed funeral service Friday.

His kindergarten and second-grade teacher Emily Eischen described him as “always a thoughtful child” and a “sweet, sweet little angel.”

Kyle’s soccer coach, John Jackson, thanked the late boy’s family “for letting us be a part of a special child’s life.”

“What he gave us we can never repay you for,” Jackson said. “Everybody in this room will tell you the same thing.”

At Friday’s press conference, Simpson spoke of her meetings with parents, saying that “not one … blamed us.”

In fact, citizens, officials and others have lauded teachers and staff at Plaza Towers and other Moore schools for keeping students calm and putting themselves in harm’s way to protect them.

Superintendent Susie Pierce said Friday preliminary estimates indicate the twisters did $45 million worth of damage to buildings in the public school system — including to the two elementary schools that were leveled.

Getting things back to near normal will be a focus over the coming months, both from a logistical and psychological standpoint.

“We have had a great loss,” Pierce said. “Our hearts are broken.”

Already, the recovery process is well underway in and around Moore, with efforts to clean up debris and give neighbors a hand after tornadoes damaged or destroyed an estimated 12,000 homes.

Country music star Blake Shelton, a native Oklahoman, will lead a benefit concert for tornado victims on May 29. The show,, which will air that night on NBC, will feature Grammy winning artists Miranda Lambert, Vince Gill and Reba McEntire.

“Everyone has their way to help, and mine as an entertainer is to perform and to help raise money and awareness for this tragedy,” Shelton, a judge on the music talent show “The Voice,” said in a statement. “This is why I want to do this special and especially hold it in Oklahoma City, which is near ground zero.”

Some are also recovering from injuries sustained in the storm.

As of Friday, five adults remained hospitalized in varying states — one in good condition, three in fair condition and one in critical condition — according to a representative from University of Oklahoma Medical Center.

In addition, one child was in critical condition at Children’s Hospital, which is affiliated with the medical center.

Some 377 people total were treated for injuries as a result of this week’s storms, the Department of Emergency Management said. The University of Oklahoma Medical Center and Children’s Hospital together treated 93 patients, who ranged in age from younger than 4 years old to older than 85.

CNN’s Marlena Baldacci contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/24/us/oklahoma-tornado/index.html?eref=edition

(CNN) — In the battle against cancer, one video game is taking the deadly disease head-on. And some young patients are the winners.

“Re-Mission 2″ is a collection of online minigames designed to get teen and young-adult cancer patients involved in understanding more about their conditions and how the body benefits from sometimes unpleasant treatments.

Researchers at HopeLab, a nonprofit organization searching for products that positively impact health behavior, were emboldened by the success of their original 2006 title, “Re-Mission,” and were looking for a better way to help patients.

“Research on the original ‘Re-Mission’ showed that it impacted biology and behavior, primarily by energizing positive motivation circuits in the human brain and giving players a sense of power and control over cancer,” said Dr. Steve Cole, a vice president at HopeLab and professor of medicine at UCLA. “That gave us a whole new recipe for engineering the games in ‘Re-Mission 2′ by harnessing the power of positive motivation circuits in the human brain.”

The Flash-based games in “Re-Mission 2″ mimic what the patients are going through in their therapy, but in a way that gamifies the treatment and involves the patient in “destroying” their cancer.

Weapons in the game include chemotherapy, cancer drugs and cells in the body’s own immune system.

A 2008 study into the effectiveness of the “ReMission” idea found that, for patients from 13 to 29, sticking to a treatment regimen when managing chronic illness was a significant problem. Playing the game greatly improved treatment adherence and understanding of that treatment in that age group, according to the study.

“(Cancer) can be incredibly disruptive and rips you away from your identity of being a normal kid,” said HopeLab spokesman Richard Tate. “The games give them the experience of what it means to be inside the body fighting cancer, using these prescriptions as weapons in their arsenal and the fight to regain a sense of control with your life.”

Many game developers lent their talents to the project. But developers also got some inside help.

Former cancer patients worked with the design teams to help create the right mood, challenges and visual design for “ReMission’s” five games.

Brooke Jaffe, a 21-year-old English major at Barnard College in New York, and Justin Lambert, a 20-year-old nursing major at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon, are two cancer patients in remission who helped with the project.

Both worked on concept art, images and play testing. But both said that the most important aspect of the game, to them, was how it would make a patient undergoing cancer treatment feel.

“Other than feeling like crap all the time, you don’t see the results,” said Lambert, who was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia at 2. “You don’t see the impact that’s brought to the body fighting the cancer. (The game) puts it into perspective — something they can visualize and definitely get hope from that.”

Jaffe was diagnosed with papillary carcinoma in 2011 and said the cancer experience can make young people feel powerless — like their recovery is based on passively allowing doctors and others to do their work.

“You actually don’t feel like you’re doing that much because it’s all these outside forces acting upon you,” she said. “I think what’s really beneficial about a game like ‘Re-Mission 2′ is the whole concept of using games to help people get a sense of activity in a situation that can rob you of that activity.

“I think that’s a very powerful thing even on a psychological level.”

Dr. Brandon Hayes-Lattin, a cancer and blood disorders specialist at the Oregon Health Science University, has been involved in a field of cancer care called adolescent and young adult oncology. He and his colleagues have been working on understanding why patients in that age group don’t show improvement in cancer-care rates on par with young kids or older adult patients.

“Across the board, no matter what the age, it is difficult to adhere to a common cancer schedule,” he said. “The number of medications, the tracking of medications can be difficult.

“You can really engage young adults through a video game as long as the video game is cool. There is also this underlying theme of empowering patients to understand what they are going through and what their own role is in their cancer care.”

With “Re-Mission 2,” he said, the mobile aspect of the minigames allow patients to be involved even while they are waiting for, or receiving, treatment.

The free minigames are available for the iPad or online. Tate said teams are working to expand the number of platforms to get the game into as many hands as possible.

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_technology/~3/OyAbmkjhhIY/index.html

(CNN) — In the battle against cancer, one video game is taking the deadly disease head-on. And some young patients are the winners.

“Re-Mission 2″ is a collection of online minigames designed to get teen and young-adult cancer patients involved in understanding more about their conditions and how the body benefits from sometimes unpleasant treatments.

Researchers at HopeLab, a nonprofit organization searching for products that positively impact health behavior, were emboldened by the success of their original 2006 title, “Re-Mission,” and were looking for a better way to help patients.

“Research on the original ‘Re-Mission’ showed that it impacted biology and behavior, primarily by energizing positive motivation circuits in the human brain and giving players a sense of power and control over cancer,” said Dr. Steve Cole, a vice president at HopeLab and professor of medicine at UCLA. “That gave us a whole new recipe for engineering the games in ‘Re-Mission 2′ by harnessing the power of positive motivation circuits in the human brain.”

The Flash-based games in “Re-Mission 2″ mimic what the patients are going through in their therapy, but in a way that gamifies the treatment and involves the patient in “destroying” their cancer.

Weapons in the game include chemotherapy, cancer drugs and cells in the body’s own immune system.

A 2008 study into the effectiveness of the “ReMission” idea found that, for patients from 13 to 29, sticking to a treatment regimen when managing chronic illness was a significant problem. Playing the game greatly improved treatment adherence and understanding of that treatment in that age group, according to the study.

“(Cancer) can be incredibly disruptive and rips you away from your identity of being a normal kid,” said HopeLab spokesman Richard Tate. “The games give them the experience of what it means to be inside the body fighting cancer, using these prescriptions as weapons in their arsenal and the fight to regain a sense of control with your life.”

Many game developers lent their talents to the project. But developers also got some inside help.

Former cancer patients worked with the design teams to help create the right mood, challenges and visual design for “ReMission’s” five games.

Brooke Jaffe, a 21-year-old English major at Barnard College in New York, and Justin Lambert, a 20-year-old nursing major at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon, are two cancer patients in remission who helped with the project.

Both worked on concept art, images and play testing. But both said that the most important aspect of the game, to them, was how it would make a patient undergoing cancer treatment feel.

“Other than feeling like crap all the time, you don’t see the results,” said Lambert, who was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia at 2. “You don’t see the impact that’s brought to the body fighting the cancer. (The game) puts it into perspective — something they can visualize and definitely get hope from that.”

Jaffe was diagnosed with papillary carcinoma in 2011 and said the cancer experience can make young people feel powerless — like their recovery is based on passively allowing doctors and others to do their work.

“You actually don’t feel like you’re doing that much because it’s all these outside forces acting upon you,” she said. “I think what’s really beneficial about a game like ‘Re-Mission 2′ is the whole concept of using games to help people get a sense of activity in a situation that can rob you of that activity.

“I think that’s a very powerful thing even on a psychological level.”

Dr. Brandon Hayes-Lattin, a cancer and blood disorders specialist at the Oregon Health Science University, has been involved in a field of cancer care called adolescent and young adult oncology. He and his colleagues have been working on understanding why patients in that age group don’t show improvement in cancer-care rates on par with young kids or older adult patients.

“Across the board, no matter what the age, it is difficult to adhere to a common cancer schedule,” he said. “The number of medications, the tracking of medications can be difficult.

“You can really engage young adults through a video game as long as the video game is cool. There is also this underlying theme of empowering patients to understand what they are going through and what their own role is in their cancer care.”

With “Re-Mission 2,” he said, the mobile aspect of the minigames allow patients to be involved even while they are waiting for, or receiving, treatment.

The free minigames are available for the iPad or online. Tate said teams are working to expand the number of platforms to get the game into as many hands as possible.

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_technology/~3/OyAbmkjhhIY/index.html

(CNN) — There’s fresh evidence that American teenagers may be growing weary of Facebook.

They don’t like the fact that their parents, grandparents and other adults are also there, diluting Facebook’s “cool” factor. They complain about their friends’ oversharing, and about too much “drama” on the site. And they’re increasingly flocking to other social platforms, such as Twitter.

These are some of the findings of a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens’ social media use. Released Tuesday, the survey finds that teens are sharing more personal information on social media, but are also taking a variety of steps to manage their privacy online.

But it was the Facebook stuff that generated the most headlines. According to Pew, focus-group discussions with teens revealed “waning enthusiasm” for Facebook for the reasons cited, including feeling “drained by the ‘drama’ that they described as happening frequently” on the site.

“The stress of needing to manage their reputation on Facebook also contributes to the lack of enthusiasm,” the survey said.

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Taking on Sheryl Sandberg

The Pew survey found that 24% of online teens now use Twitter, up from 16% in 2011. Other social platforms such as Tumblr, Instagram (which is owned by Facebook), YouTube and Snapchat also have seen big growth among young users in the past year.

“Those teens who used sites like Twitter and Instagram reported feeling like they could better express themselves on these platforms, where they felt freed from the social expectations and constraints of Facebook,” the Pew survey said. “Nevertheless, the site is still where a large amount of socializing takes place, and teens feel they need to stay on Facebook in order to not miss out.”

Facebook has 1.1 billion users worldwide and remains the most popular social network among U.S. teens.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment specifically Wednesday on the Pew report but pointed to statements by CFO David Ebersman in a recent conference call about quarterly earnings, in which he emphasized Facebook’s popularity among users under 25.

“We continue to have really high penetration rates among that age group, both in the U.S. and globally, and … younger users remain among the most active and engaged users,” Ebersman said. “Younger users are extremely active users of Instagram as well.”

Facebook executives maintain that teen use of their social network has remained steady. They argue that Facebook is not losing users to other platforms — instead, they say, more users are visiting other social media sites in addition to Facebook.

“The urban legend (that Facebook is losing younger users) flows more often than not from surveys people have done of younger users that indicate that they’re using other social services … much of the concern stems from the assumption that this is a zero-sum game, and that’s not how we see it,” Ebersman said. “We think the overall amount of time spent on services that enable you to connect and share is growing and will continue to grow.”

Jeff Hancock, a professor of communication at Cornell University and a frequent social media analyst, mostly agrees.

“Facebook’s attraction to youth is based in part on being connected, but also on being an ‘ingroup’ and ‘cool’ thing. To the degree that the cool of Facebook wears off, we should see some migration of teens to other platforms,” he said.

“People are unlikely to fully leave Facebook but simply to diversify their tools for accomplishing social interaction. Instead of Facebook being the Walmart of social media, it will become just one platform in a big ecology, including photo sharing with Instragram, broadcasting with Twitter, etc.”

Pew’s findings are based on a nationally representative phone survey, run by its Internet American Life Project, of 802 teens ages 12-17. It was conducted between July 26 and September 30, 2012. Pew also conducted two online focus groups of teenagers ages 12-17 in June 2012.

Pew found that the typical (median) teen Facebook user has 300 friends, while the typical teen Twitter user has 79 followers.

Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_business/~3/I0ZXemdktRM/index.html

(CNN) — Openly gay youths will be allowed to join scouting, a historic decision the Boy Scouts of America says will keep it unclouded by “a single, divisive, and unresolved societal issue.”

More than 60% of the group’s 1,400-member national council voted Thursday at an annual meeting in Grapevine, Texas, for the change, which takes effect Jan. 1.

“No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone,” says the resolution.

The BSA, however, will maintain its ban on gay adult leaders.

Boy Scouts of America is an organization that says it is focused on mentoring young men and helping them develop life skills. Here’s a look at BSA by the numbers. (Source: Boy Scouts of America).

102: The number of years since Boy Scouts of America was incorporated. Membership topped 20 million by 1952.

2.7 million: The number of youth members as of 2011. BSA also boasts 1.1 million adult members.

420,000: The number of youth members in units chartered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the most of any faith-based organization. As of 2011, the United Methodist Church had the second strongest membership, followed by the Catholic Church.

181: The number of NASA astronauts that participated in Scouting. Neil Armstrong was an Eagle Scout, the highest ranking in the program.

206: Number of lawmakers in the current session of Congress that have participated in Boy Scouts. Fifteen current governors were Scouts or Scout volunteers.

18: The number of presidents that have served as honorary president of Boy Scouts of America. (That’s every president since BSA was founded).

161: The number of countries with Boy Scouts, as of 2010.

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Photos: Boy Scouts by the numbers

Land: Gays in Boy Scouts ‘a catastrophe’

‘Learning from mistakes’ in Boy Scouts

“The resolution also reinforces that Scouting is a youth program, and any sexual conduct, whether heterosexual or homosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting,” the 103-year-old organization said in a statement after the vote.

The BSA said there are no plans for further review of the issue.

BSA President Wayne Perry said the vote came after “an extensive dialogue within the scouting family (that) was exhaustive and … very respectful.”

“No matter how you feel about this issue, kids are better off in scouting,” Perry told reporters. “Our mission is to serve every kid.”

Reaction from interest groups to Thursday’s vote was swift.

The Human Rights Campaign said the BSA took a “historic step forward.”

“Unfortunately, the new policy does not go far enough, leaving adult Eagle Scouts, scout leaders, and parents behind,” the group said.

Scouts for Equality and GLAAD lauded the BSA’s “commitment to creating a more inclusive organization.”

Jennifer Tyrrell, an Ohio mother who was ousted as a den leader in April 2012 because she’s lesbian, called Thursday’s vote “incredible.”

Opinion: Boy Scouts’ decision makes no sense

“They’ve never been raised to discriminate against anyone regardless of sex or color or anything, so they can’t understand why people care so much,” she said of her children. “… Definitely, one day, I hope they look back and think that we’re part of something amazing.”

Tyrrell, in an interview with CNN affiliate KTVT, said that the vote energized her for her next push — to change Boy Scout policy so that gays and lesbian adults, like herself, can serve as leaders.

“When we used to exclude women from things, when we used to exclude black people from things, and that never has ever worked, but we continue to do it,” she said. “I’m going to be around to make sure that that’s not the case. We’re definitely not going to go away.”

Conservative groups and some religious organizations argued against making any change in the membership policy, saying it would dilute the Boy Scout message of morality and potentially destroy the organization.

John Stemberger, founder of OnMyHonor.net, which opposed the resolution, called the vote a “sad day for Scouting.”

Stemberger claimed that Boy Scout officials didn’t foster a “robust discussion,” didn’t provide “honest information” and “hid information from the delegates.”

He claimed that scouting groups now have two options: to “segregate” gay scouts from heterosexual ones by putting them in separate tents, or “put homosexual boys with other boys and put them at risk.”

“We wouldn’t put boys and girls sleeping together. Why? Because they’re attracted to each other,” Stemberger told reporters.

The conservative Family Research Council tweeted: “Sadly, the @boyscouts’ legacy of producing great leaders has become yet another casualty of moral compromise.”

BSA conducted a survey on the issue

The vote followed months of intense debate among interest groups and within the ranks of Scouting itself.

In February, the Boy Scouts’ national executive board postponed a vote on the issue and ordered a survey of its members.

That survey showed an organization divided by age and, in some cases, by region.

“While a majority of adults in the Scouting community support the BSA’s current policy of excluding open and avowed homosexuals, young parents and teens tend to oppose the policy,” the survey said.

Survey: Should gay and straight Boy Scouts share a tent?

A BSA spokesman at the time called the issue “among the most complex and challenging issues facing the BSA and society today.”

“The Boy Scouts of America will not sacrifice its mission, or the youth served by the movement, by allowing the organization to be consumed by a single, divisive, and unresolved societal issue,” the group said after Thursday’s decision.

Chief Scout Executive Wayne Brock said, “Our goal through all of this was to put kids first … It allows us to serve youth who want to be part of scouting.”

A long time grappling with a polarizing issue

The BSA for years has been at the center of the debate over gay rights.

A recent Washington Post-ABC News Poll showed that 63% of Americans said they would support allowing gay youths to join the Boy Scouts.

The vote comes more than a decade after the Supreme Court ruled that the organization has the right to keep out gays but also at a time of declining participation in the organization.

Membership in Boy Scouts has declined by about a third since 1999. About 2.7 million people now participate nationwide.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, after the vote, said it will continue to work with the BSA.

“Sexual orientation has not previously been — and is not now — a disqualifying factor for boys who want to join Latter-day Saint Scout troops,” it said in a statement.

It was too early to tell what impact the decision might have on scout troops, and whether some families may join other organizations.

The impending vote did spur action by a new organization called Faith Based Boys. Thomas Dillingham, an official from that group, said applications will be accepted starting in August for youth members and group leaders.

“Christian churches and organizations will use this program to continue serving God by training young men to have good character through service to their communities,” Dillingham said Thursday. “The profound need for a nationwide program like this has now been realized and the relevance of such a program will only become more important as time goes on.”

Tico Perez, the BSA’s national commissioner, said there have been ongoing talks with churches and others opposed to the inclusion of gay scouts.

That said, he echoed other Boy Scout officials in saying they believe that Thursday’s vote ultimately helps advance the cause.

“We’re accepting youth,” Perez said, “and we’re excited about where we are.”

CNN’s Katia Hetter and Ed Payne contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/23/us/boy-scouts-sexual-orientation/index.html?eref=edition

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MAY 24 – LONDON, ENGLAND: On May 23, 2013, a police officer stands in a hail storm close to a crime scene where a soldier from Wellington Barracks was killed in Woolwich on May 22. British Prime Minister David Cameron said the “appalling” attack appeared to be terrorism related. He added that “nothing in Islam … justifies this truly dreadful act.”

MAY 23 – NEW DELHI, INDIA: A boy minds his family’s containers as people fill theirs with water. High temperatures are causing a strain on water supplies in Delhi, with many residents having to rely on water being brought in by trucks on a daily basis.

May 22 – VALPARAISO, CHILE: Demonstrators are dispersed by police water cannons during clashes in Valparaiso. Students in Chile have been demanding a fairer education system which would allow those from poorer backgrounds access to the best schools.

MAY 21 – MOORE, OKLAHOMA : Debris covers the ground after a powerful tornado ripped through the area on May 20. It tore through a highly populated area, wiping out entire neighborhoods, schools and other buildings.

MAY 20 – SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Young South Koreans participate in a traditional Confucian coming-of-age ceremony in Seoul. The ceremony celebrates young people who have turned, or are going to turn, 20 this year and is meant to increase their awareness about the responsibilities of adulthood.

MAY 17 – SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Name cards with wishes of Buddhist followers are attached to lotus lanterns during a ceremony to celebrate the birthday of Buddha at Jogye temple. Buddhism is one of South Korea’s largest and most active religions with millions of followers. Although the exact date is unknown, Buddha’s official birthday is celebrated according to the lunisolar calendar, on the eighth day of the fourth month.

MAY 15 – NEW YORK, U.S.: The new “Rain Room” installation at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City creates a field of falling water that stops in the area where people walk through, allowing them to remain dry. The piece releases a 260-gallon of water per minute.

MAY 14 – POPOCATEPETL, MEXICO: Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano has been rumbling with explosions and expulsions of ash and gas, prompting authorities to bar people from getting close to a crater that is within sight of Mexico City and many of its 19 million residents.

MAY 13 – WASHINGTON, D.C.: U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron meet in the White House to foster the “special relationship” between their countries. Despite talk of Britain considering an EU exit, the bonds between U.S. and UK remain strong.

MAY 11 – CAIRO, EGYPT: A supporter of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak holds his portrait outside the Egyptian police academy in Cairo, on the first day of the retrial on May 11, 2013. Mubarak is appealing against his conviction for the murder of hundreds of peaceful protesters during the 2011 uprising.

MAY 10 – LAHORE, PAKISTAN: Supporters of former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif stand on a wall overlooking the field where he held the closing rally of his campaign on May 9, 2013. 86 million voters are due to go to the polls on May 11; the election will be the first civilian-to-civilian transition of power in the country’s 66-year history.

MAY 09 – MOSCOW, RUSSIA: Russian soldiers march in Red Square during a Victory Day parade. Fighter jets scream overhead and heavy tanks rumble over cobblestones as Russia flexes its military muscle on the anniversary of its costly victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

MAY 08 – LONDON, ENGLAND: Queen Elizabeth II arrives to the State Opening of Parliament in London. The monarch will mark the 60th anniversary of her coronation later this year and despite being 87 years of age, she’s shown no inclination to step down.

MAY 07 – NEW DELHI, INDIA: Om Dubey, 20, shows off his moves as elderly yoga practitioners sit in the courtyard of a mosque. India’s under-30s, comprising 60% of its 1.2 billion population, represent what experts call the “demographic dividend” of young workers that can help power the economy.

MAY 06 – KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor cut a cake to celebrate the Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition victory, which has ruled for 56 years. Vote-rigging allegations and violence marred the most hotly contested election in Malaysian history.

MAY 03 – SAVAR, BANGLADESH: A lady believes her missing relative may be trapped in the rubble of an eight-storey garment factory collapse in Savar on April 24. The rising death toll has surpassed 500 and the country’s PM says Western retailers are partly to blame.

MAY 02 – KABUL, AFGHANISTAN: An Afghan woman takes part in a pro-democracy demonstration condemning the victory of former mujahideen groups that led to the start of Afghanistan’s 1992-1996 civil war. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the conflict.

MAY 01 – JAKARTA, INDONESIA : Protestors around the world took to the streets to mark the May Day. In Jakarta, crowds demanded higher minimum wages and better working conditions.

APRIL 30 – AMSTERDAM: Queen Beatrix abdicates in favor of her son, King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands. Now known as Princess Beatrix, she greets the crowds accompanied by princesses Amalia, Alexia and Ariane.

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Editor’s note: Each day, CNN brings you an image capturing a moment to remember, defining the present and claiming its place in history. The photographs we select will look ahead to the future and chronicle our changing world.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/01/world/defining-moments/index.html?eref=edition

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MAY 24 – LONDON, ENGLAND: On May 23, 2013, a police officer stands in a hail storm close to a crime scene where a soldier from Wellington Barracks was killed in Woolwich on May 22. British Prime Minister David Cameron said the “appalling” attack appeared to be terrorism related. He added that “nothing in Islam … justifies this truly dreadful act.”

MAY 23 – NEW DELHI, INDIA: A boy minds his family’s containers as people fill theirs with water. High temperatures are causing a strain on water supplies in Delhi, with many residents having to rely on water being brought in by trucks on a daily basis.

May 22 – VALPARAISO, CHILE: Demonstrators are dispersed by police water cannons during clashes in Valparaiso. Students in Chile have been demanding a fairer education system which would allow those from poorer backgrounds access to the best schools.

MAY 21 – MOORE, OKLAHOMA : Debris covers the ground after a powerful tornado ripped through the area on May 20. It tore through a highly populated area, wiping out entire neighborhoods, schools and other buildings.

MAY 20 – SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Young South Koreans participate in a traditional Confucian coming-of-age ceremony in Seoul. The ceremony celebrates young people who have turned, or are going to turn, 20 this year and is meant to increase their awareness about the responsibilities of adulthood.

MAY 17 – SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Name cards with wishes of Buddhist followers are attached to lotus lanterns during a ceremony to celebrate the birthday of Buddha at Jogye temple. Buddhism is one of South Korea’s largest and most active religions with millions of followers. Although the exact date is unknown, Buddha’s official birthday is celebrated according to the lunisolar calendar, on the eighth day of the fourth month.

MAY 15 – NEW YORK, U.S.: The new “Rain Room” installation at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City creates a field of falling water that stops in the area where people walk through, allowing them to remain dry. The piece releases a 260-gallon of water per minute.

MAY 14 – POPOCATEPETL, MEXICO: Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano has been rumbling with explosions and expulsions of ash and gas, prompting authorities to bar people from getting close to a crater that is within sight of Mexico City and many of its 19 million residents.

MAY 13 – WASHINGTON, D.C.: U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron meet in the White House to foster the “special relationship” between their countries. Despite talk of Britain considering an EU exit, the bonds between U.S. and UK remain strong.

MAY 11 – CAIRO, EGYPT: A supporter of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak holds his portrait outside the Egyptian police academy in Cairo, on the first day of the retrial on May 11, 2013. Mubarak is appealing against his conviction for the murder of hundreds of peaceful protesters during the 2011 uprising.

MAY 10 – LAHORE, PAKISTAN: Supporters of former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif stand on a wall overlooking the field where he held the closing rally of his campaign on May 9, 2013. 86 million voters are due to go to the polls on May 11; the election will be the first civilian-to-civilian transition of power in the country’s 66-year history.

MAY 09 – MOSCOW, RUSSIA: Russian soldiers march in Red Square during a Victory Day parade. Fighter jets scream overhead and heavy tanks rumble over cobblestones as Russia flexes its military muscle on the anniversary of its costly victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

MAY 08 – LONDON, ENGLAND: Queen Elizabeth II arrives to the State Opening of Parliament in London. The monarch will mark the 60th anniversary of her coronation later this year and despite being 87 years of age, she’s shown no inclination to step down.

MAY 07 – NEW DELHI, INDIA: Om Dubey, 20, shows off his moves as elderly yoga practitioners sit in the courtyard of a mosque. India’s under-30s, comprising 60% of its 1.2 billion population, represent what experts call the “demographic dividend” of young workers that can help power the economy.

MAY 06 – KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor cut a cake to celebrate the Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition victory, which has ruled for 56 years. Vote-rigging allegations and violence marred the most hotly contested election in Malaysian history.

MAY 03 – SAVAR, BANGLADESH: A lady believes her missing relative may be trapped in the rubble of an eight-storey garment factory collapse in Savar on April 24. The rising death toll has surpassed 500 and the country’s PM says Western retailers are partly to blame.

MAY 02 – KABUL, AFGHANISTAN: An Afghan woman takes part in a pro-democracy demonstration condemning the victory of former mujahideen groups that led to the start of Afghanistan’s 1992-1996 civil war. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the conflict.

MAY 01 – JAKARTA, INDONESIA : Protestors around the world took to the streets to mark the May Day. In Jakarta, crowds demanded higher minimum wages and better working conditions.

APRIL 30 – AMSTERDAM: Queen Beatrix abdicates in favor of her son, King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands. Now known as Princess Beatrix, she greets the crowds accompanied by princesses Amalia, Alexia and Ariane.

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Editor’s note: Each day, CNN brings you an image capturing a moment to remember, defining the present and claiming its place in history. The photographs we select will look ahead to the future and chronicle our changing world.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/01/world/defining-moments/index.html?eref=edition

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MAY 24 – LONDON, ENGLAND: On May 23, 2013, a police officer stands in a hail storm close to a crime scene where a soldier from Wellington Barracks was killed in Woolwich on May 22. British Prime Minister David Cameron said the “appalling” attack appeared to be terrorism related. He added that “nothing in Islam … justifies this truly dreadful act.”

MAY 23 – NEW DELHI, INDIA: A boy minds his family’s containers as people fill theirs with water. High temperatures are causing a strain on water supplies in Delhi, with many residents having to rely on water being brought in by trucks on a daily basis.

May 22 – VALPARAISO, CHILE: Demonstrators are dispersed by police water cannons during clashes in Valparaiso. Students in Chile have been demanding a fairer education system which would allow those from poorer backgrounds access to the best schools.

MAY 21 – MOORE, OKLAHOMA : Debris covers the ground after a powerful tornado ripped through the area on May 20. It tore through a highly populated area, wiping out entire neighborhoods, schools and other buildings.

MAY 20 – SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Young South Koreans participate in a traditional Confucian coming-of-age ceremony in Seoul. The ceremony celebrates young people who have turned, or are going to turn, 20 this year and is meant to increase their awareness about the responsibilities of adulthood.

MAY 17 – SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA: Name cards with wishes of Buddhist followers are attached to lotus lanterns during a ceremony to celebrate the birthday of Buddha at Jogye temple. Buddhism is one of South Korea’s largest and most active religions with millions of followers. Although the exact date is unknown, Buddha’s official birthday is celebrated according to the lunisolar calendar, on the eighth day of the fourth month.

MAY 15 – NEW YORK, U.S.: The new “Rain Room” installation at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City creates a field of falling water that stops in the area where people walk through, allowing them to remain dry. The piece releases a 260-gallon of water per minute.

MAY 14 – POPOCATEPETL, MEXICO: Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano has been rumbling with explosions and expulsions of ash and gas, prompting authorities to bar people from getting close to a crater that is within sight of Mexico City and many of its 19 million residents.

MAY 13 – WASHINGTON, D.C.: U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron meet in the White House to foster the “special relationship” between their countries. Despite talk of Britain considering an EU exit, the bonds between U.S. and UK remain strong.

MAY 11 – CAIRO, EGYPT: A supporter of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak holds his portrait outside the Egyptian police academy in Cairo, on the first day of the retrial on May 11, 2013. Mubarak is appealing against his conviction for the murder of hundreds of peaceful protesters during the 2011 uprising.

MAY 10 – LAHORE, PAKISTAN: Supporters of former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif stand on a wall overlooking the field where he held the closing rally of his campaign on May 9, 2013. 86 million voters are due to go to the polls on May 11; the election will be the first civilian-to-civilian transition of power in the country’s 66-year history.

MAY 09 – MOSCOW, RUSSIA: Russian soldiers march in Red Square during a Victory Day parade. Fighter jets scream overhead and heavy tanks rumble over cobblestones as Russia flexes its military muscle on the anniversary of its costly victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

MAY 08 – LONDON, ENGLAND: Queen Elizabeth II arrives to the State Opening of Parliament in London. The monarch will mark the 60th anniversary of her coronation later this year and despite being 87 years of age, she’s shown no inclination to step down.

MAY 07 – NEW DELHI, INDIA: Om Dubey, 20, shows off his moves as elderly yoga practitioners sit in the courtyard of a mosque. India’s under-30s, comprising 60% of its 1.2 billion population, represent what experts call the “demographic dividend” of young workers that can help power the economy.

MAY 06 – KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor cut a cake to celebrate the Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition victory, which has ruled for 56 years. Vote-rigging allegations and violence marred the most hotly contested election in Malaysian history.

MAY 03 – SAVAR, BANGLADESH: A lady believes her missing relative may be trapped in the rubble of an eight-storey garment factory collapse in Savar on April 24. The rising death toll has surpassed 500 and the country’s PM says Western retailers are partly to blame.

MAY 02 – KABUL, AFGHANISTAN: An Afghan woman takes part in a pro-democracy demonstration condemning the victory of former mujahideen groups that led to the start of Afghanistan’s 1992-1996 civil war. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the conflict.

MAY 01 – JAKARTA, INDONESIA : Protestors around the world took to the streets to mark the May Day. In Jakarta, crowds demanded higher minimum wages and better working conditions.

APRIL 30 – AMSTERDAM: Queen Beatrix abdicates in favor of her son, King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands. Now known as Princess Beatrix, she greets the crowds accompanied by princesses Amalia, Alexia and Ariane.

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Editor’s note: Each day, CNN brings you an image capturing a moment to remember, defining the present and claiming its place in history. The photographs we select will look ahead to the future and chronicle our changing world.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/01/world/defining-moments/index.html?eref=edition